is a samurai warrior's quest or pilgrimage. The concept is similar to the Chinese

Youxia ''Youxia'' () was a type of ancient Chinese warrior folk hero celebrated in classical Chinese poetry and fictional literature. It literally means "wandering vigilante", but is commonly translated as " knight-errant" or less commonly as "cavalier" ...

, or

Knight Errantry A knight-errant (or knight errant) is a figure of medieval chivalric romance literature. The adjective ''errant'' (meaning "wandering, roving") indicates how the knight-errant would wander the land in search of adventures to prove his chivalric v ...

in feudal Europe. A warrior, called a ''shugyōsha'', would wander the land practicing and honing his skills without the protection of his family or school. Possible activities include training with other schools, dueling, performing bodyguard or mercenary work, and searching for a '' daimyō'' to serve. ''Musha shugyō'' ("training in warriorship") was inspired by

Zen Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and l ...

monks, who would engage in similar ascetic wanderings (which they called ''

angya is a term used in Zen Buddhism in reference to the traditional pilgrimage a monk or nun makes from monastery to monastery, literally translated as "to go on foot."Baroni, 8-9 The term also applies to the modern practice in Japan of an unsui (novi ...

'', "travelling on foot") before attaining enlightenment.

Notes

Japanese martial arts terminology Samurai {{Martialart-term-stub